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MATCHDAY 32 BIG STORIES

vor 2 Stunden

Evergreen: Claudio Pizarro (l.) has been in fine form for FC Bayern lately, and struck twice against former club Bremen on Matchday 32Kevin De Bruyne and Wolfsburg missed an opportunity to steal a march on their rivals in the battle for fourth spotBremen are one of four teams whose safety was guaranteed this weekend

Munich - From outstanding efforts on a team and individual level to some huge developments at both ends of the Bundesliga table, Matchday 32 was another weekend packed full of incidents.

bundesliga.com summarises the main talking points from the weekend that was...

Eintracht Frankfurt, SC Freiburg, Hannover 96 and Werder Bremen are all guaranteed the sweet taste of another year of top-flight football following Hamburger SV’s 3-1 away loss to FC Augsburg on Sunday. Bremen are the lowest positioned of those four clubs with 36 points, but their lead over 16th-placed HSV is now nine points, with just two games remaining.

For HSV, meanwhile, the picture is becoming ever bleaker. Defeat in Augsburg was their eighth consecutive loss on the road and Mirko Slomka’s side (27 points) can now only potentially catch VfB Stuttgart (32). The northerners are set to fight it out with 1. FC Nürnberg (26) and bottom-of-the-table Eintracht Braunschweig (25), both of whom also lost this weekend, for the relegation play-off spot, although Hamburg's are FC Bayern München at home and 1. FSV Mainz 05 away.

Marco Reus was the key figure as Borussia Dortmund earned themselves a point away to Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Saturday, scoring one and making another in a high-octane 2-2 draw. The German attacking midfielder has been in awesome form since his comeback from injury on Matchday 26, having been involved in 16 of BVB’s last 19 goals, helping Jürgen Klopp’s side secure second place and automatic qualification for next season's UEFA Champions League.

This weekend’s permutations arguably offered VfL Wolfsburg their best chance yet to move into fourth place and the final Champions League spot, with the Wolves hosting SC Freiburg and Leverkusen entertaining in-form Dortmund. Kevin De Bruyne and Co were held to a 2-2 draw, however, meaning that Bayer retained their grip on fourth, despite only taking a point against BVB. Wolfsburg finish the season away to Stuttgart and at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach, while Bayer have Frankfurt away and Bremen at home.

Some may well have written off FC Bayern’s after the Peruvian appeared in just 11 of his side's first 27 league games this term, but the 35-year-old has been proving doubters wrong in recent weeks, enjoying a first-team comeback and notching five goals in his last four games. The latest two came in the champions’ 5-2 home win against former club SV Werder Bremen on Saturday, his 173rd and 174th in the top flight, which may well be enough to earn him a new contract in Munich this summer.

Bayern München held a minute's silence for former FC Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova ahead of their meeting with Werder Bremen Saturday, who had passed away the previous day after a long and sadly unsuccessful battle against cancer. You can watch it here, courtesy of the Bundesliga's YouTube channel:

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